Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet

Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bt
Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Bt
	Portrait, initialled and dated: "E.A. 1874"
Born	15 March 1817; London, England
Died	24 November 1880 (aged 63); St Clare, Isle of Wight, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford; University of Giessen
Known for	Analysis of beeswax, work on peroxides
Awards	Royal Medal (1850)
	Scientific career
Fields	Physical chemistry
Institutions	University of Oxford
Academic advisors	Justus von Liebig[1]
Doctoral students	Augustus George Vernon Harcourt[1]

Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet FRS (5 February 1817 – 24 November 1880) was an English chemist.

Brodie's Coat of arms

Biography

Brodie was the son of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet, and his wife Anne (Née Sellon), and was educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. He obtained a second class honours degree in mathematics in 1838. Because he was an agnostic and would not assent to the Thirty-nine articles, he was refused a MA until 1860.[2] He studied chemistry with Justus von Liebig in Giessen along with Alexander Williamson. At Giessen, he did original analysis of beeswax for which he was given the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1849 and awarded the Royal Medal in 1850.

Brodie did important original work on peroxides in his private laboratory[3] where he taught Nevil Story Maskelyne chemistry. He was secretary of the Chemical Society from 1850 to 1854 and its president in 1860. However, he opposed the atomic theory and proposed in 1866 his Calculus of Chemical Operations[4] as a non-atomic alternative to the atomic theory. He saw an advertisement for wooden balls and wire for building models of molecules. This provoked him into describing atomic theory as a "thoroughly materialistic bit of joiner's work".[5]

Despite opposition from some theological fellows, he was elected to the Aldrichan Chair (later renamed as the Waynflete Professor of Chemistry) at Oxford University 1865 to 1872, and is chiefly known for his investigations on the allotropic states of carbon and for his discovery of graphitic acid.[6]

Brodie married Philothea Margaret, daughter of John Vincent Thompson, in 1848. They had one son and five daughters. He died in November 1880, aged 63, and was succeeded in the baronet by his only son Benjamin. Lady Brodie died in 1882.

References

"Academic Genealogy of the NDSU Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" (PDF). North Dakota State University, USA. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 91.
Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 92.
Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins (1866). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. pp. 781–859 vol I56.
Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 12.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 625.

Bibliography

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Benjamin Collins Brodie	Baronet (of Boxford) 1862–1880	Succeeded by Benjamin Vincent Sellon Brodie

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[genealogy-1] "Academic Genealogy of the NDSU Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" (PDF). North Dakota State University, USA. Retrieved 16 March 2012.

[2] Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 91.

[3] Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 92.

[4] Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins (1866). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. pp. 781–859 vol I56.

[5] Brock, W. H., ed. (1967). The Atomic Debates. Leicester University Press. p. 12.

[6] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 625.